Another easy way to resize images

Added on: Thursday 29th October 2009

A while back I published an article on how to use the Send To Mail Recipient feature on a Windows computer to resize a batch of images. This is fine if you have an email client set up on your computer but what if you use webmail?

As I mentioned in the previous article, there is plenty of software around to resize photos but most of it comes with a bewildering array of options.

The other day, I came across a Firefox extension called Shrunked which will automatically resize any photos uploaded to a website.

I like this idea as the resizing is done from within the browser with no need for any additional operations in another program. The only downside is that it works with traditional File Upload boxes which only allow one picture to be uploaded at a time.

On this page you will see that Shrunked is an experimental add-on so you will have to tick the box before you can install it. (see below)

Once the Add-on is installed, select Tools - Add-ons from the Firefox menu, select the Shrunked Add-on and click the Options button. (see image below).

There are two tabs on this window, Site Settings and Defaults. Click Defaults and set values for the maximum size of the images and the quality. (see below). 800px is usually OK for a website

Click OK to save changes and then when you go to upload a photo you will see a new toolbar appear above the website window. (see below)

Click Yes and when the image is uploaded it will be reduced in size so that its maximum side will be the value you have set as the default. Note that you will get the Defaults window pop up again when you first upload to a website but you can select the 'Remember my answer for this website' option and you won't be asked again.

By the way, as stated on the site it doesn't save the settings in earlier versions of Firefox but works just fine in 3.5

Death of Snail Mail

Is the two day Postal Strike that began this morning the nail in the coffin for the Royal Mail?

I just can't believe the stupidity of postal workers who have voted to strike when volumes of traditional post have been reducing for years.

The service has also seemed to me to be less reliable over the last few years and it galls me when you have to pay a premium to guarantee that something will get to its destination on time.

Nowadays we have email and skype to communicate and both are much quicker than mail. With a printer at the other end a document can be scanned, sent and received the other side of the world in minutes... and its free (barring the connection and line rental).

Many online stores already use courier services in favour of Royal Mail and I'm sure that following this many more will switch.

I can now pay suppliers and recieve payment from clients via BACS so no need to send cheques in the post - although that excuse is becoming even better as the service deteriorates!

Finally, with email marketing producing great returns on investment there is no longer a need for a national postal service.

There is still something nice about getting an unexpected letter through the post but maybe it is now time to say the the post office has had its day.